Cutting Electricity Costs

molerat

As others have said, how many KWh are you using. Is your supplier basing your monthly payments on estimates. You need to check. Read your meter daily and post back.

lynseydee

It wasn't until I spoke to them when we received the letter wanting to increase our payments that I was told we were using I think it was just over 5,000 kwh a year. Apparently this is about 1,500 more than the previous year although we've only been with them since March last year so not even two years yet so I don't think they can really compare this year to last.

The stupid thing is that when we were doing gas and electric separately we were paying about £70.00 a month then and when I did a comparison it worked out cheaper to go through our current supplier. Obviously not.

espresso

lynseydee wrote: »

It wasn't until I spoke to them when we received the letter wanting to increase our payments that I was told we were using I think it was just over 5,000 kwh a year.............

Read your meter today and then again at the same time next week.

Cardew

lynseydee wrote: »

I think it was just over 5,000 kwh a year.

Electricity costs vary according to where you live and of course what company/tariff you are on.

However 5,000kWh a year is not likely to cost any more than £50 a month(£600pa) on the highest tariff in the most expensive area. An average figure would be approx £40 a month.

mech_2

lynseydee:
Is the £107 figure for both electricity and gas added together? Or electricity only?

If it's for both, it might not be that unreasonable depending on how much gas they reckon you use.

Terrylw1

Hi,

Are you bills estimated? If so, you need to get this charged to an actual reading off the meter. If the reading on the meter is lower than your billed estimate, your DD will reduce with it.

Ok, apart from just considering appliances you need to monitor your consumption on the meter. When you ask Suppliers about your annual consumption they often don't hold enough reading data and base it on estimates.

So, take a reading at the same time each day for 7 days. This will give you a pattern of your typical usage through a normal week. Now, since we are getting into a colder period times yout daily average (each days usage added together & divided by 7) into a quarter and then times by your unit prices. Then add any standing charge.

This will give you a basic idea of your usage. Remember that in winter it will be higher so see how adding 10-0% comes out. Is this anywhere near your Suppliers figure?

Suppliers do quick consumption checks this way, so you could too. Remember that doing this in a winter period will over estimate it if you times your quarter by 4 to get it to an annual figure. Also, basing it on summer consumption makes it too low. It works as a guideline though.

Then other things can be considered.

PasturesNew

If it were me I'd start by taking a meter reading 2 times a day:

1] when I get up
2] when I get home from work

Then I'd start trying to chase that down each day by really thinking about everything I was doing. Monitoring it daily really focusses you if you are trying to beat yesterday's reading.

Do you need lights on when you're sat watching TV?

Do you use any lights where 2-3-6 turn on with one switch, whereas you could just use a lamp?

How many times are you opening that big fridge/freezer per day? If they're nearly empty then fill them with big empty containers, say tupperware. That way, when you open the door, the cold air in the containers doesn't slide out!

Can you turn the washing machine down in temperature? And make sure you fill it every time you use it.

How long are people taking showers? Power showers are killers. Look up your model and see how many kWh they use. Then you might find out that the shower's in use over an hour a day perhaps. Limit people to 5 minutes for a shower, 10 minutes for a "doing absolutely everything" shower (shampoo, conditioner, leg shaving, armpit shaving, all over shower gel, rinse).

Cardew

PasturesNew wrote: »

Power showers are killers. Look up your model and see how many kWh they use. Then you might find out that the shower's in use over an hour a day perhaps.

Electric Power Showers?

Do they make them?

The only power showers I have seen use hot water from a HW tank.

Most 'normal' electric showers are 7.5kW to 11.5kW which cost approx 1p to 1.5p a minute.

Terrylw1

Yes, I've seen some electric power showers. You get some models back typing it into Google.

Cardew

Terrylw1 wrote: »

Yes, I've seen some electric power showers. You get some models back typing it into Google.

Terry,
Give me an example!

As far as I can see, all the 'electrical power showers' listed on google e.g. top of the range Mira Extreme require a supply of hot water from a tank at least 12C above the required showering temperature.

All these 'electrical power showers' do is regulate the water temperature and boost the flow rate with a pump; the power they draw is very small - 150 watts or so.

The electrical power to heat sufficient hot water(from cold) for a 'power' shower would be way above the capacity of domestic electrical systems.